News on the Internet

Information and Citizenship in the 21st Century

David Tewksbury and Jason Rittenberg

Description

Online news sites play an ever-pervasive role in the daily gathering and flow of political information. Media has always played an intermediary role in the way that citizens receive and process news, but, with the speed of information transmission, the segmentation of news sources, and the rise of citizen journalism, issues of authority, audience, and even the definition of News on the Internet synthesizes research on developing and current patterns of online news provision with the literature on traditional, offline media to create a conceptual map for understanding the way that public affairs and news are presented and consumed on the internet.

Tewksbury and Rittenberg look at the dual role of the internet as a
source of authoritative news and as a vehicle for citizens in contemporary democracies to create and share political information. Throughout, they address the tension between the benefits of internet news provision, specifically increased citizen engagement, and the negative, perhaps counterintuitive, effects: the fragmentation of knowledge and polarization of opinion in contemporary democracies. News on the Internet focuses on these points of conflict and contradiction in the online news environment and offers conclusions and predictions for how these phenomena will develop in the future.

News on the Internet

Information and Citizenship in the 21st Century

David Tewksbury and Jason Rittenberg

Reviews and Awards

"News on the Internet is a most welcomed addition to the growing literature on the transformations of journalism and its publics in the digital world. Tewksbury and Rittenberg provide an important overview of the scholarship produced on this topic so far. This engaging book is poised to become a major resource for researchers and educators alike."--Pablo J. Boczkowski, author of Digitizing the News and News at Work

"Tewskbury and Rittenberg have provided an exhaustive analysis of how the internet has re-shaped contemporary journalism. They address many of the major issues of the internet and news media today related to both the news organization and the media audience. These include facets such as fragmentation and specialization of the audience in a democracy, the disappearance of the traditional media/online media distinctions, and the economics of online journalism. The book is a must-read for academics and practitioners who need to understand where journalism is going in the internet age."---Richard Davis, author of The Web of Politics

"This is an ideal text for making sense of the internet news environment. It tells a fascinating story about the new political world that emerges when citizens join the chorus of news professionals and demystifies a complex situation that people of all ages need to understand."--Doris Graber, author of Media Power in Politics

"Through impeccable research, Tewksbury and Rittenberg confirm what many have assumed: in an age in which markets are scattered and the Internet serves niche audiences, fragmented, polarized, and democratized audiences choose the sites and news they ingest. ... Highly recommended." --CHOICE